Shalom, Ziva
by Hobbit Killer
Summary: Sequel to Dark Thoughts in a Dark Basement. Abby, Tony, and Gibbs think about their relationships with Ziva during the episode, Shalom. mild cursing


A/N Okay folks. My one reviewer requested I make a sequel to my oneshot, "Dark Thoughts in a Dark Basement", and I've been bitten by the writing bug, so here it is. I would like to point out that, once again, there are no pairings in this unless the reader would like to manufacture it. Since my last fic was Ziva self bashing, I decided that I would put some serious Ziva love in this one.

This is the three characters from the team that Ziva interacted with the most during _Shalom_ and what they think of Ziva and the situation. Please forgive the OOCness of some of the characters. I, like most writers, have a flare for the melodramatic.

ABBY

To say that Abby was surprised when she heard Ziva's voice on her phone would be an understatement. Honestly, Abby was certain that she would be the last person that Ziva would trust to call when in a crisis. After all, Abby hadn't exactly rolled up the welcome wagon when Ziva joined the team.

Of course, Abby still couldn't condemn her own attitude towards the Israeli completely. Abby had just lost her best friend, and then Ziva, who had put so much effort into attempting to clear that bastard's name and had literally spied on them, just waltzed right in and expected her to become her friend? Abby may be an overtly friendly person, but even she had a tough time swallowing the intrusion of the would be protector of Kate's murderer.

It wasn't like it was just her, though. Tony and Gibbs hadn't exactly been the most hospitable set of senior agents a girl could ask for; especially when she had previously been in charge of her own team back at Mossad. Timmy and Ducky were the only people in the agency, with the exception of the Director, who had made an effort to make her feel like less of an outsider. Of course, Abby had to admit, Tim's admiration of Ziva had struck a nerve within her that she hadn't realized existed. And then Ziva had gone and basically attached herself to McGee. But even Ducky and McGee seemed to have their reservations when it came to dealing with the assassin.

Thinking back, it must have been really tough for her to come to this country and work with the same people who killed her brother and acted as though they wished she would join him. Ziva was obviously equipped to deal with it; spies tend to make a lot of people hate them, but it must have been frustrating when she was making a conscious effort to try to become a part of their team and they refused to let her in.

Abby sighed, it was almost time for her to go to the "secret" meeting Tony had called, and she was having trouble shaking off the fear that hung about her. Though they had not known it when they first met Officer David, it had now become widely known among their team and other intelligence agencies that Ari was her brother. That same Ari had killed two FBI agents, as well as an NCIS agent. Now, two new FBI agents had been killed in an attack that the bureau of intelligence attributed to Ziva. Abby seriously doubted the federal agents would hesitate to shoot first and interrogate later. If the FBI got to Ziva first...

_Please help her, Gibbs!_ Abby walked up to the picture on her computer screen._ I don't know what went on between you guys in that hospital, or with Ari, but I do know that you think you owe her. And let me tell you, buddy, I'm giving her full rights to collect._

Abby straightened. Now was not the time to become wishy-washy. She couldn't just wait for her silver haired fox to come in and rescue her friend. Yes, friend, that is what Ziva was, and Abby never told her. The forensics expert wasn't sure when it first happened. Maybe it started when Ziva helped her assemble that suitcase, or when Abby realized she was actually worried about Ziva as well as Tony when the two had gone missing at the ship yard, or when Ziva brought her a birthday present. It didn't matter though. The point is that they were friends now, and if Ziva wanted to keep it that way, she'd keep herself alive and safe until Abby and the team could get her home safe.

TONY

Why is it he couldn't take a simple trip without Ziva getting herself on the FBI's Most Wanted list? He knew that Ziva loved to mess with him and make his life more difficult, but come on; wasn't being chased by the FBI, Mossad, and their own agency just a little overkill?

Tony smoothed the hand that wasn't currently employed by steering his car through his hair and over his face. Of course, he knew it wasn't actually her fault. Whatever was going on was definitely over their heads. Honestly, he could relate. He couldn't count how many times he'd been wrapped up in messy situations because of people trying to take advantage of his father's wealth, but at least he was never manipulated to create an international incident that could jeopardize the relationship between two allied nations. Well, theoretically at least. They really didn't know what was going on, but that was the Director's theory, and the most probable one he could think of for setting up Ziva.

Well, if there was one thing he could say about her, it was that, when Ziva David stepped in it, she did an exemplary job. Honestly, sometimes he couldn't believe she was actually a spy. Subtlety hadn't exactly been a trait of hers he'd seen. Then again, how would he know.

He had often wondered if she was just really playing them. Well, he had in the first few months at least. NCIS was notorious for its dislike of spies, or "spooks" as they called them. He couldn't help but wonder at the sudden hiring of one. And not just any spook, but the spook related to the spook that almost singlehandedly took down his entire team.

He was actually impressed with himself when he didn't even flinch at Sacks mention of Ari. He supposed that, if this were a movie, he would be utterly unimpressed with the overwhelming irony of the replacement for his late partner being the sister of the man that killed her. Of course, one can't expect life to be as well scripted as a movie.

Realizing that he had zoned out, Tony brought his attention back to the road just in time to slam on the breaks at a stop light. Than was probably a sign that he'd been around the Israeli too much; he was starting to drive like her. Great, as if his life wasn't dangerous enough with all the crazies shooting at him on a regular occasion.

Taking the next exit, Tony was now only ten minutes away from Gibbs' house. Ziva calling Gibbs had certainly surprised him. It was shocking enough when she got his memory back, but he never would of thought she'd trust _Gibbs_ to get her out of trouble. Those two didn't exactly have the best working relationship he'd ever seen. They certainly weren't as close as Gibbs and Kate had been. Well, he supposed the spy did, in fact, have a flare for secrecy after all. Gibbs too, for that matter, considering that he flew all the way in from Mexico, and seemed to have not even yelled at Ziva yet. If Tony were wrapped up in this nonsense, he was sure he'd have been head-slapped into oblivion by now.

That was exactly what he was going to do to Ziva. He couldn't believe she hadn't contacted him or the Jenny. Weren't he and Jenny her friends? She should have had the sense to at least give them a heads up before the FBI came knocking on their door. Well, not really knocking, more like elevator dinging...but he digressed.

Even McGee would have been a good choice. Mainly because McGee wouldn't be able to keep it secret from him like Abby had. Well, Abby hadn't exactly lasted long either, but it was longer than McGee would have lasted. It was the same as when she'd thrown that party and everybody had been there but him. He was the one she worked closest with, and he was the first of them, with the exception of Jenny, that she'd met and spent any time with in America. She even seemed to trust him at times with her most painful memories, like her sister and her murdered friend. And they'd seen each other at least once a week ever since Gibbs left outside of work. And still, she didn't trust him to get her out of this muck.

Oh sure, she'd probably give some noble answer like that she didn't want them to get into trouble or whatnot, but that created a whole new issue. Didn't she trust his powers of sneakiness? Was Gibbs the only one she deemed worthy to sneak around and skirt federal law? He was an excellent loose cannon when he wanted to be, thank you very much.

Tony snorted, pulling into Gibbs' driveway. "What, does she think I'm Weeblos McGee, or something? I've seen _Dirty Harry_"

GIBBS

This is not exactly what he'd been planning when he decided to retire to Mexico. This plane was incredibly uncomfortable, and he found himself longing that hypothetical hot tub already. He'd expected the calls from Abby, and, in all honesty, he appreciated them, but he thought the first one to call him with a crisis would have been DiNozzo. It wasn't necessarily that Tony couldn't handle the team. Gibbs wouldn't have left him in charge if DiNozzo wasn't capable. It's just that Tony seemed to have an overblown idolization of Gibbs. Honestly, that boy needed to stop trying to turn himself into a Gibbs replica.

He hadn't exactly been planning on repaying his debt to Ziva so soon. He thought it might come later on when Ziva was recalled to Mossad. He liked to think that she'd come to him for a reference of some sort so she could become a permanent member of NCIS or something of the like.

It may sound callous, but Ziva had become his project. He'd figured, when she was assigned to his team against his wishes, that he might as well try and break Deputy Director David's heart and deprogram his daughter. To him, she had been a manufactured super spy/killing machine. Sure, he had seen her vulnerable side when Ari was killed, but, had it not been for that brief moment, he wouldn't have even tried to "humanize" her.

It wasn't until they had been working together for a few months that he recognized the girl that had been there the whole time. Oddly enough, it seemed DiNozzo, the supposedly callous and shallow member of the group, was the only one to have known it existed all along. If he had wanted an ego-boost, Gibbs could have claimed that he had cultivated that seed of humanity into a fine young woman, but that would be a lie.

The fact was, Ziva was more human than any of his other agents. Reading her dossier was almost like reading the obituaries. The people she'd killed, and the people she knew who were killed were in amounts that were absolutely absurd for a girl her age.

It was with a chill that he remembered their first meeting, and her casual insinuation that she didn't expect to live to be his age. He'd smiled at the time. He didn't know why he smiled. Maybe he had simply liked her quick wit, or the spirit of the girl, despite what it was being used for.

He distinctly remembered thinking these same thoughts as he stood at the top of his basement stairs, having turned back to watch the young woman mourn over the body of the brother she'd killed for a man she didn't know, and probably expected to turn into the authorities at some point. As he stood there, watching over her, his mind had flashed to the graves of his own family, who's deaths still caused the hole in his heart to ache as the wind blew through it.

He remembered thinking that it was a shame that this woman's fate would most likely be the same as her brother, especially when Mossad and Hamas found out that she killed a much valued asset. So, he'd stepped forward, and offered to take the blame. It was partly true. He had been the one to set the whole thing up. After all, Ari had been in the clear to leave. If Gibbs had just laid low and stayed in highly trafficked areas, Ari would probably have gone to Paris, and Ziva would be back at Mossad without the weight of her brother's death hanging on her shoulders.

Would that be better? He had done her a favor by getting her out of Israel, but perhaps her time in America had made her soft. He doubted she would have gotten into this much trouble in her spying days. A spies greatest asset is their anonymity, and that was something she no longer had since joining NCIS. If Ziva were working a Mossad assignment, they would not have found a car registered to her at the seen, and the LEOs would have no idea she was in the country, let alone the only Mossad liaison officer in the area

Ziva was a spy. In her career, she had doubtless had hundreds of covers, each a different character to play which could be easily shed for another if trouble arose. At NCIS, she was only Officer David. She had no other skin to step into, and couldn't step out of the one she was in when trouble arose.

As the pilot announced an ETA of half an hour, Gibbs sat up in his seat and buckled his seatbelt. Well, she had better be in trouble, because, if he showed up to find it was all a misunderstanding, not only would he Gibbs slap her back to Israel, but she'd be paying his airfare for the trip up, and the first-class trip back.

R+R

Peace,

Hobbit Killer


End file.
